The album is due for an August 16 release, and it features Clark classics including “L.A. Freeway,” “Dublin Blues” and “Homegrown Tomatoes” along with songs penned by Thompson, Clark and the late Townes Van Zandt. Before offering up a version of Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You,” Clark tells the story of the evening Van Zandt wrote the song at a Chapel Avenue house they shared (and that was bulldozed two weeks ago in what songwriting fans would characterize as an affront to history).

“Townes came in for coffee one morning, picked up his guitar and laid this piece of paper on his leg and sang this song,” Clark reports on Songs and Stories. “And I said, ‘Where did that come from?’ and he said, ‘I wrote it last night in my sleep. I just rolled over and wrote it down and turned over and went back to sleep.’”

Click to see a gallery of photos from Sunday, Oct. 24's Country Music Hall of Fame Medallion Ceremony (this image of Alison Krauss performing a tribute to inductee Don Williams: Sanford Myers/The Tennessean).

Two country music innovators — one a shy master of subtle emotion, the other a loquacious, camera-ready force of nature — entered the Country Music Hall of Fame Sunday night at the Hall’s Medallion Ceremony.

Don Williams, the quiet one, was unable to attend his own induction because of a bout with bronchitis. Jimmy Dean, who brought country music into American households with hits including “Big, Bad John” and with television shows that introduced such talents as Roy Clark, Mel Tillis and Connie Smith, died in June, after hearing of his pending induction but before his Hall entry could be made official.

“So, they’re finally going to do it, are they?” asked Husky, 84, whose “Gone” and “On The Wings Of A Dove” rank with country’s enduring hits. Husky has battled congestive heart failure, pneumonia and other ailments in recent years. “Well, it’s worth the wait.”

Country’s Hall of Fame is among the most exclusive of Halls: Last year, the Cleveland-based Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted nine members, while the Country Hall only inducted four this year because of a tie between Husky and Dean in the “Veterans Era Artist” category.

“I figured if it ever happened, it’d be when I’m in some lonely, North Alabama graveyard,” said Sherrill, 73, who co-wrote and produced Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man” and “I Don’t Wanna Play House,” Charlie Rich’s “The Most Beautiful Girl,” David Houston’s “Almost Persuaded” and dozens of other hits. “But I do think it’s kind of neat.”Continue reading →